


Skeins

by elistaire



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Crack, Implied kink, Knitting, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-12
Updated: 2011-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-23 16:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/252463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elistaire/pseuds/elistaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt: The ladies take up a hobby. Erik considers it a waste of time until they show him what they can do with a set of knitting needles.</p><p><i>Erik liked the whispering of metal against metal and the minute clicks that accompanied. </i></p><p>Just a touch of crackiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skeins

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: Erik & Angel, Raven, Emma, knitting/crochet crack!prompt. The ladies take up a hobby. Erik considers it a waste of time until they show him what they can do with a set of knitting needles.  
> [Link to the original prompt and fill.](http://1stclass-kink.dreamwidth.org/1269.html?thread=14325#cmt14325)
> 
> *handwave* on why they're all at the mansion, but they are.

Erik liked the whispering of metal against metal and the minute clicks that accompanied.

Several nights a week, he’d noticed now, Angel, Emma, and Raven had gathered in the television room with balls of yarn in various colors and sharp, wickedly long looking skewers. The television would mumble evenly in the background and the three of them would chat quietly to each other, their eyes darting down occasionally to the project in their hands.

Erik lingered at the doorway, enjoying the whisk of metal against metal as they worked.

“It’s called knitting,” Emma said, her back to him. “And they’re knitting needles, not skewers.”

Erik sipped at his drink and drifted more fully into the room. Emma was working on something that was pure white, of course. Raven held blue yarn. Angel gave him a knowing smile as she clicked along with some black yarn.

“How did you learn this craft?” he asked. He’d listened to the music of the metal needles for many nights now, on his way to play chess with Charles in the study. Tonight, however, Charles was busy with other concerns, and Erik had been left to his own devices.

“My grandmother taught me,” Angel said, and Emma nodded in agreement.

“And Emma taught me,” Raven said as she frowned at the piece in front of her. “How do I loop the yarn for a purl stitch?” she asked, and Emma put her own work down in her lap and took Raven’s and slowly moved the needle and yarn, both hands working simultaneously. “Oh, right. I got it,” Raven said and took her own work back. She raised an eyebrow at Erik. “Want to learn? You can make a scarf like I am.”

Emma smiled enigmatically, her eyes downcast, and radiated serenity. “Yes, Erik, you could make a scarf.”

Erik scoffed. He could appreciate that it might be a soothing hobby with which to engage, but he was not particular about clothing. As long as clothing was functional and appropriate for the mechanism of fitting within the culture, he had no other thoughts about it. It was foolish to waste time making articles of clothing that might be easily purchased otherwise. Erik did not care much for fashion.

“It’s not about fashion,” Emma said, and Erik scowled at her. He would have to start wearing the helmet far more often.

“Then what is it about?” he asked.

Emma’s gaze flickered to Raven and Angel. “First, it is a skill, and you never know when any skill may come in handy.”

Erik nodded at that. It was entirely true, logical, and exactly what he would expect from Emma Frost. Even the most mundane skills or knowledge were useful when least expected. Sometimes, even having a cursory ability to speak on a remote topic with someone would glean information. Although, perhaps, _knitting_ was stretching the point a tad.

“Some use it as a form of meditation,” Emma continued. “An opportunity for self-reflection. Keeping the hands busy allows the mind to focus, or to disassociate as needed.”

Erik considered this point and gave a small acquiescing gesture.

“Additionally, by having a small portion of your mind focused on a physical task, it allows for greater attention to be kept on other subjects.” Emma then translated, “It can keep you awake for long periods of time, when you otherwise might fall asleep. For example, a long and dry lecture.”

Erik grunted, grudgingly allowing the point.

“The stitches provide an excellent opportunity for code,” Emma said, mildly.

“Madame Defarge,” he murmured. “It’s been done.”

Angel chimed in, “Maybe a little bit of fashion.” She held up her project. “I’m making a coverlet that will allow my wings to come through. Winter _is_ coming, and I can’t go around in tank tops all the time.”

“Camouflage,” Raven said then, in an annoyed voice. “Damn, I think I just dropped a stitch.”

Emma patiently took Raven’s work and then another metal needle, this one with a hook on the end, and started to carefully pull up a thread from the body of the material. “Crochet hook,” she said quietly, and Erik vowed to remember to wear the damned helmet.

“Camouflage?” Erik prompted.

“It’s blue,” Raven said, and Erik noted that the blue of the yarn was almost a perfect match for Raven’s skin tone. “I’m blue. If I’m undercover and I accidentally shift, I might be able to say ‘oh, no, you saw my _scarf_ ’.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I like the color.”

Erik pressed his lips together and did not laugh.

“And you can always strangle someone with it,” Emma said, handing back Raven her work and picking up her own again.

Erik raised an eyebrow. “You have far more powerful methods at your disposal if you wished an opponent dead.”

Emma reached down into the small bag at her feet and pulled out a spool of thread, and now that his attention was on it, Erik could feel that it was _metallic_. She lobbed it in the air at Erik, and he held it there, hovering in front of him, shiny and shimmering. “What’s this?” he asked.

“There are ways to incorporate that thread into knitted objects. All the way through.” Emma didn’t even pause in her work, and the needles clicked and slid over each other in a nearly hypnotizing pattern. “Wouldn’t you like articles of clothing that obey your will?” she asked.

Now, this was an interesting idea. Clothing usually had something in it that was metal. Zippers, snaps, grommets, buckles, jewelry, adornment, tie-tacks, cufflinks, hidden metal bars on the insides of shoes, fasteners, hooks and eyelets, and so many other bits and bobs. But not always. For instance, right now, Charles was roaming about the house, and Erik had no sense of him. Probably he was clad only in socks, and those deplorable grey sweats that swallowed him up.

“You could make a shawl,” Raven suggested, with a razor edge lance of humor in her voice. “It’s sort of like a cape.”

Emma smirked.

Erik held out his hand and the spool of thread dropped into his palm. “Yes,” he said. “Teach me how.”

He sat down in the chair opposite them. He could sense more knitting needles waiting within Emma’s bag of supplies. “I want to make gloves,” he said. “Those fingerless things that Charles prefers.” There was endless potential in that project, and Erik could imagine gifting Charles with such a pair of gloves. Gloves that Erik could feel, no matter where Charles went, and control, if opportunity so arose.

Emma looked up from her project, but her slim, nimble fingers kept going, moving yarn and needles. The metal needles continued humming, steady and low. “Those involve some slightly more advanced techniques. A scarf is a very good first project.”

Erik was about to protest, but the sudden idea of a metallic scarf, wrapped loosely around Charles’s neck, ready to do Erik’s bidding gave him pause. His breath hitched as he imagined tightening it _just so_. Or sliding it down to curl and wrap around Charles’ wrists. Soft, pliable. Entirely under Erik’s command.

Emma’s smile grew slightly more toothy. “Yes, well. Let me show you how to cast on,” she said.

~~~

“That’s an amazing new trick you’ve got,” Charles said as he bent over the chess board, deciding on his next move. His eyes flicked up to the knitting needles hovering in the air behind Erik, smoothly moving along, making the whisk-whisk noise.

“Thank you,” Erik said. “Emma taught me by hand, and since finding a new sort of yarn in the shop, I’ve been able to do it entirely through magnetic manipulation. I find it most stimulating.”

“The yarn has metal in it, also?” Charles asked, his attention piqued.

“Yes,” Erik said. He’d already made two scarves by hand—lumpy, unattractive things with unintentional holes, not worthy to be given away. But this one. This one was perfect. He’d brought it here entirely because it was just about long enough. “Your move,” he reminded Charles.

“Oh, of course,” Charles said and went back to studying the board. He darted a look at the floating needles.

Erik had to concentrate slightly harder for a moment, to bind off the last row of stitches. He controlled a silver pair of scissors and snipped the yarn, and then, after another moment of concentration, forced the yarn to tuck itself into the knit, hiding the end. Charles had apparently forgotten all about the chess game as he stared at the display in front of him.

“Truly amazing,” he said, softly.

Erik floated the scarf into his hands, just to make sure Charles would completely understand, and then presented it to him. “For you,” he said.

Charles took the scarf, breath quickening and his face slightly flushed, and held it for a long, considering moment. “Thank you,” he said, and then decisively threw it loosely around his shoulders, with a single wrap around his neck.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Skeins](https://archiveofourown.org/works/637237) by [majoline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/majoline/pseuds/majoline)




End file.
